Railway journal box lid seal



Aug. 3, 1965 J. J. HENNESSY, JR 3,198,589

RAILWAY JOURNAL BOX LID SEAL 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed July 18, 1962 Aug 3, 1965 J. J. HENNESSY, JR 3,198,589

RAILWAY JOURNAL BOX LID SEAL Filed July 18, 1962 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 United States Patent 3,198,589 RAILWAY JOURNAL BOX Lil) SEAL James J. Hennessy, In, Chambersburg, Pa., assignor to Hennessy Lubricator Company, Inc., Chambersburg, Pa., a corporation of Delaware Filed July 18, 1962, Ser. No. 211,953 3 Claims. (Cl. 308-47) This application is a continuation in part of an earlier application filed April 6, 1961, Serial No. 101,198, now abandoned in view of the present application.

The invention relates to railway axle journal boxes of the type in which the opening at the outer end of the box is fitted with a lid which is normally spring-pressed into closed position but may be opened for the addition of oil or for repacking of the waste, or for inspection purposes, or for removing and replacing the journal bearing and wedge. Usually such boxes are of cast metal, and the lids, also of metal, do not fit tightly against the box, and crevices exist which permit the entry of dust, water, etc., likely to affect the lubricating quality of the oil, or to score the journal or the bearing. Also surging of the oil in the box, or tilting of the outer end of the box downwardly as may occur if the car is unloaded in a rotary dumper will permit the escape of oil through such crevrecs.

The main object of the present invention is to provide a seal which may be applied to a box and lid without machining of either the box or the lid and may be readily renewed in the field without disassembly of the box and the lid from each other or from the axle.

In the accompanying drawings illustrating selected embodiments of the invention:

FIG. 1 is a vertical longitudinal section through a journal and journal box assembly showing the bearing wedge lid and seal arrangement embodying the invention.

FIG. 2 is a front view of the box and seal shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a detail vertical transverse section on line 3-3 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is a detail view looking upwardly in the general direction indicated by the arrow A in FIG. 1.

FIG. 5 is a detail horizontal section on line 5-5 of FIG. 2.

FIG. 6 is a section corresponding to the left hand end of FIG. 1 but illustrates another form of the invention.

FIG. 7 is a detail vertical section on line 77 of FIG. 6 but is drawn to a larger scale.

FIGS. 8 and 9 are detail horizontal sections on lines 38 and 9-9 respectively of FIG. 6 but are drawn to a larger scale.

FIG. 10 corresponds to FIG. 6 but illustrates another form of the invention.

PEG. 11 is an elevation of the seal of FIG. 10, looking toward its inner face, as indicated by arrow 11 in FIG. 10.

The box includes a bottom wall 1, side walls 2, a top wall 3 and inner and outer rear walls 4 and 5 respectively. The bottom wall curves upwardly and forwardly at 6. The forward edges of all of the walls form a substantially rectangular opening 0 for the outer end of the box. Upstanding lugs 7 on the box mount a hinge pin 9 for the box lid 11 and a fiat spring 13 is tensioned to hold the box in closed or open position. All of the above described structure is well known and in itself does not constitute the present invention.

The seal structure includes a rectangular frame, including a bottom member 15, side members 16 and a top member 17. The length and width of the frame correspond to the length and width of the portion of the box defining the opening and the seal has a fiat inner face which fits over the edges of the box and has a lip 18 projecting 3,198,585) Patented Aug. 3, 1965 inwardly from the general plane of the frame and disposed to engage the inner faces of the walls 1, 2, 3. The seal is formed of rubber, plastic or other distortable material and is grooved at 19 so that it yields to pressure from the lid and the lid spring to avoid crevices providing passageways from the exterior to the interior of the box, and vice versa.

Generally similar rectangular seals have been suggested previously for journal boxes, but they require cementing the seal to the box or lid or securing the seal to the box or lid by other means such as screws, pins, etc. The seal shown in the accompanying drawings is secured to the box by a pair of spring clips 20 secured to and spaced along. the lower rail of the frame nearer to its sides than to its center and project inwardly of the box from the general plane of the frame and are offset downwardly in a direction parallel to that plane beyond the inner periphery of the open frame, as best shown in FIG. 1, to engage the inner face of the upwardly and outwardly turned portion 6 of the bottom wall. Forming a part of, or attached to the upper rail 1'7 of the seal, is a clip 22 similarly projecting inwardly from the general plane of the frame and terminating in, or having attached thereto, laterally projecting inclined fingers 23 disposed to be thrust against the opposing faces of lugs 25 depending from the box top wall 3, as are commonly provided to position the usual wedge 27 which rides on the bearing 29 mounted on the journal 30. The ends of fingers 23 are shown serrated to better engage and hold the upper portion of the frame in position on the box when the lid is open. Obviously when the lid is closed, clips 20 and 22 have no holding function, as the seal is maintained in position by the lid spring.

The seal is readily applied to an existing box without requiring any special construction of the box or any work to be done on the latter or upon the lid merely by applying clips 28 to the outer edge of the box lower wall and swinging the seal about the clips as hinges and forcing the upper clip under the upper wall of the box until its fingers 23 are wedged between the box lugs 25.

FIGS. 6-8 illustrate another form of the invention in which the rectangular frame has a bottom member 35, side members and a top member 37, corresponding generally to the members 25, 26 and 27 of the form previously described. The main difference in the two forms resides in the formation and disposition of the attaching clips. Clip 32 is secured to the mid portion of the frame top member 37 and projects inwardly of the box from the general plane of the member and mounts a relatively wider inner portion having rebent terminals 33 directed toward the plane of the frame and toward the ends of the frame. These terminals are of spring steel and are adapted to yieldingly engage lugs 40 usually present on the box top wall 41 for the purpose of opposing the journal bearing wedge 42.

Attached to the lower member 35 of the frame and extending inwardly of the box from the general plane of the frame are spaced clips 44, corresponding generally to clips 2t previously described but having downturned terminals 45 with sharp edges for better engagement with the box bottom wall 46. The rectangular seal has a lip or lips 47 projecting inwardly of the box from the general plane of the frame and in position to engage the inner faces of the box walls surrounding the box opening.

FIGS. 9 and 10 illustrate another form of the invention generally similar to those previously described but the top section 47 of the frame is provided with two spaced clips 52. separately attached to the section and provided with upturned toothed terminals 53 which may be flexed to engage the lower faces of the Wedge retaining lugs 69 on the box top wall.

The clips 54 for engaging the box bottom wall 56 comprise elongated wires pivoted at 58 on the lower portions of the frame side members 55 and distorted from the dotand-dash line position shown in FIG. 9 to the full line position when the seal is applied to the box.

All the seals described are readily applied to and removed from the box, and will not interfere with the application or removal of lubricating waste or pads. The seals do not require any special box formation or any machine work on the box.

The details of the structure may be varied without departing from the spirit of the invention and the exclusive use of those modifications coming within the scope of the claims is contemplated.

What is claimed is:

1. A railway journal box lid seal comprising a foursided frame of distortable material, each side having a substantially flat lower face and a recessed upper face, an attaching clip structure of yielding material on one side of the frame and projecting therefrom beyond the gen eral plane of the frame and outwardly from the inner perimeter of the frame, and an attaching clip structure of yielding material on the opposite side of the frame and projecting therefrom beyond the general plane of the frame in the same direction as the first-mentioned clip and having laterally projecting yielding fingers.

2. A railway journal box lid seal according to claim 1 in which the first-mentioned attaching clip structure comprises two units spaced apart lengthwise of the frame side from which they project and yield inwardly of the frame perimeter and the attaching clip structure on the other frame side is intermediate the length of the frame side from which it projects and yields parallel to that frame side and toward the middle thereof.

3. In combination with a railway journal box having side, top and bottom walls, the forward edges of said walls lying in a common plane forming a rectangular opening between them at the front of the box, the bottom wall being curved upwardly and outwardly adjacent to said opening and the top wall having bearing wedgepositioning lugs projecting downwardly adjacent the opening with opposing faces spaced apart horizontally inwardly of said opening, a lid hinge pin mounting lug projecting upwardly from the top wall, and a lid seal comprising a rectangular frame of distortable material overlying said forward edges and secured to the box solely by clips extending from said frame inwardly of the box and yieldingly engaging respectively the inner face of said upwardly and outwardly turned lower wall below the outer edge thereof and said opposing faces of the top wall lugs.

4. The combination of a railway journal box and seal according to claim 3 in which there are two metal clips extending inwardly and downwardly from the lower side of the frame and positioned closer to the sides of the opening than the center and yielding upwardly and there is a single clip extending inwardly from the central part of the upper side of the frame and terminating in fingers spaced apart lengthwise of that side and thrust lengthwise of that side against said lugs.

5. A railway journal box lid seal according to claim 1 in which the frame of distortable material includes a lip projecting from the flat lower face of the frame in the same direction as the attaching clip and extending along the inner periphery of the frame.

6. The combination of railway journal box and lid seal according to claim 3 in which the rectangular frame of distortable material includes a lip projecting from the frame along its inner periphery in the same direction as the attaching clips and engageable with the inner faces of the box walls surrounding the rectangular opening between them at the front of the box.

7. A railway journal box lid seal comprising an open rectangular frame of distortable material and including top, bottom and side members with inner faces lying in a common plane adaptedfor application to the edges of a journal box surrounding an end opening of the box, and spaced-apart narrow clips of thin spring metal mounted on the frame near the top and bottom thereof and projecting from said faces transversely of said plane and provided with terminals having sharp rigid exposed edges spaced from said members and adapted to engage surfaces of the journal box walls to which the seal is applied to retain the seal on the box.

8. A railway journal box lid seal comprising an open rectangular frame of distortable material and having a fiat inner face in a single plane throughout the seal adapted and arranged for direct application to the edges of journal box top, bottom and side walls surrounding an end opening in the box, and attaching clip structures of thin sheet spring metal which is stiff throughout its width and length but yields transversely of its thickness, said clip structures being secured to the inner perimeter of the frame near the top and bottom of the latter and having terminals with sharp exposed edges spaced from said face, said terminals being yieldingly displaceable from their normal position transversely of said plane and adapted and arranged to frictionally engage elements of journal box walls to which the seal is applied and to retain the seal on the box wall edges.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,258,852 10/41 Horn et 211. 2,871,068 1/59' \Vright 308-44 3,040,393 6/ 62 Dailey.

ROBERT C. RIORDON, Primary Examiner.

FRANK SUSKO, Examiner. 

3. IN COMBINATION WITH A RAILWAY JOURNAL BOX HAVING SIDE, TOP AND BOTTOM WALLS, THE FORWARD EDGES OF SAID WALLS LYING IN A COMMON PLANE FORMING A RECTANGULAR OPENING BETWEEN THEM AT THE FRONT OF THE BOX, THE BOTTOM WALL BEING CURVED UPWARDLY AND OUTWARDLY ADJACENT TO SAID OPENING AND THE TOP WALL HAVING BEARING WEDGEPOSITIONING LUGS PROJECTING DOWNWARDLY ADJACENT THE OPENING WITH OPPOSING FACES SPACED APART HORIZONTALLY INWARDLY OF SAID OPENING, A LID HINGE PIN MOUNTING LUG PROJECTING UPWARDLY FROM THE TOP WALL, AND A LID SEAL COMPRISING A RECTANGULAR FRAME OF DISTORTABLE MATERIAL OVERLYING SAID FORWARD EDGES AND SECURED TO THE BOX SOLELY BY CLIPS EXTENDING FROM SAID FRAME INWARDLY OF THE BOX AND YIELDING ENGAGING RESPECTIVELY THE INNER FACE OF SAID UPWARDLY AND OUTWARDLY TURNED LOWER WALL BELOW THE OUTER EDGE THEREOF AND SAID OPPOSING FACES OF THE TOP WALL LUGS. 